A soy mocha and a buttcrack...

Ever feel like this? While I'm waiting for my Starbucks to kick in so I can actually do something productive today, I thought I'd share this card I made with my "Harvest Moon" stamp from Hambo.

The herbs are from an old SU set called "Sweet Herbs" that I picked up a craft sale last year. I colored them in with my Copics and added some Stickles for a little shimmer.

The gardner was stamped out and colored separately and I paper pieced the shirt to match the background paper. I cut out the image and popped it up on dimensionals in front of the herbs. I added some Crackle medium (no pun intended) to the knee pad under the gardner to add a little texture. The card base is SU close to cocoa with river rock and chocolate chip as matting.

Close up of Stickles on herbs

Close up of crackle medium on knee pad

Lauren's Sketch Challenge

Lauren posted a sketch challenge on her blog yesterday and I decided to play along. Instead of just stamping an image in the center, I decided to make it into a mini shaker with my SU Scallop Punch.

I seem to be on a shaker kick lately, but I'm going to go with it! The card base is SU Brilliant Blue and the pattern paper is a double sided piece that I picked up at the local scrapbook store by American Crafts.

The sentiment and little bug stamp are from SU's Bugs and Kisses set which I think I have used more than any other set that I own. It's just SO cute and versatile. The polka dots on the background paper are from one of the stamps in an SU set called "So Much". Does anyone NOT love polka dots?!

I used clear microbeads and some large red beads inside the shaker.
Well that's it for me today. I hope you all have a wonderful Mother's Day tomorrow! I'm definitely looking forward to getting a little spoiled...

Scuba-ish

I got a request last night to make an engagement card for a couple in my Uncle's scuba diving group. The only specific request was that the card be "scuba-ish". Since I don't have ANY stamps that fit that specific category, I had to get really creative.

This was all that I could up with. What do you think? Is it "scuba-ish"?

The mask is a shaker card with sand, microbeads and some cut out images from "Crab & Company". For the background I used the "Cheesecloth" background stamp on Not Quite Navy cardstock and Versamarked some fish.

This card was definitely a labor of love, but I'm happy with the uniqueness of it. It's not everyday that you get such an interesting request.

A challenge within a challenge!

Kristina posted another fabulous color challenge, but I didn't think I'd be able to play along because I broke my finger yesterday! Luckily I have an extremely high pain tolerance for anything stamp related!

This is one of my favorite color combinations. It's so bright and cheerful and these always seem to be the colors I reach for when making a card for a child's birthday. Here's my entry for this weeks Round-Up on Kristina's blog.

The main image is from SU's "Hip Hip Hooray", the sentiment is from SU's "Full of Life" from the mini catalog and the background is SU's "On The Spot". The "Jersey Shore" patterned paper collection was perfect for this challenge. I also used a small scrap of it to paper piece my little critter's shirt.

Be sure to check out my sketch for this week - I'd LOVE to see what all you stampers out there can do with it!

Sketch Challenge #3

Here is my sketch challenge for the week. If you read this, consider yourself invited to play along!


Here's my card for the sketch.

I've had "Boatloads of Love" for three months now and this is the first time it's seen ink. It was so much fun to play with tonight. There are so many color combinations that are possible with this set. After going through my...ehem...HUGE stash of patterned paper that I've been hoarding for years, I came across this beauty from Luxe Designs.

SU's Not Quite Navy cardstock matched it perfectly. I colored with my Copics and used purple eyelets for the life preservers on the side of the boat.
Here are the specific Copics that I used on the main image.

You can leave a link to your creation in the comment section of this post or upload it to SCS with MS003 as the title. I will post all of the entries on Saturday.

Happy Stamping!

Did you hug your teacher today??

For those of you who have kids in school, I'm sure that you spoiled your teachers today for National Teacher Day. My son has the most wonderful teacher and we've become great friends. I love when I get the opportunity to do something nice for her, because let's face it, she's a saint. Anyone who can handle 20 six year olds and hear their name 237 times a day, is a saint in my book!

Each class at school has a mascot, and our class is the frog class. I've had lots of fun this year buying anything and everything froggish. For her gift today I made her a clear envelope book. The spine of the book is SU Chocolate Chip cardstock and the front is SU patterned paper from an old Simply Scrappin set called "Creative License". I used my Cricut machine to make 5 inch ovals out of Certainly Celery and Mellow Moss cardstock and then cut them to look like a lily pad. I sponged the edges with Wild Wasabi and inked up my little fly stamp that I love o so much!
The closest thing that I had to a water lily was the large stamp from SU's Fabulous Flowers set. I inked it up with Pixie Pink and rolled the edges in Purely Pomegranate. After I cut it out, I added pink and clear Stickles and then popped the whole thing up with dimensionals. The little frog image is from the retired set called "Birthday Banter". I used a couple of Copics to color him in and then added him to the flower. I finished it off with a little of the Wild Wasabi stitched ribbon.


This is what the inside of the book looks like. Over the last couple of weeks, I've been grabbing a kid here and there and having them complete the following sentence. "Mrs. VanLiew is special because..." There were 20 pages in the book and she loved reading every single one.
Happy National Teacher's Day Mrs. VanLiew! We love you and appreciate all that you do SO MUCH!

For those of you who would like to make a clear envelope book of your own, read this post. It has a link for a great tutorial on SCS.

Happy Cindo de Mayo!

OMG!

So I'm sitting here in my workshop trying to finish a present for my son's teacher because tomorrow is National Teacher Day. After spending a few quiet moments in his room, apparently changing his clothes, my son walked into my workshop and said, "Hey Mom! Do I look pretty Mexican in this outfit?" After my husband and I stopped laughing we quickly tried to locate the camera. My son said that the shiny leather belt and matching shoes really "finished" the whole look. The kids are very excited about Cinco de Mayo because they love Mexican food and of course we'll be pigging out at our favorite local Mexican restaurant this evening. Do we really have to take him out in public like this???

Class Project #4

Hello stampers! As promised, here is the last project that we did in my class today. For this project, I used the top left image from the photo above.

I used a giant paper clip to make a "shaker" bookmark. First, I stamped the image in Old Olive onto the same colored cardstock. I used a craft knife to cut out the center and adhered acetate to cover the opening. I applied a small rub-on from the Sale-A-Bration catalog to the center of the acetate and then put foam adhesive strips on the back.

The center is filled with clear microbeads and then I "sandwiched" the top of the paperclip between two larger squares of Le Jardin patterned paper. I tied organdy ribbon to one side and embellished with a mini flower punch from the $1 bin at Michael's.

I put a standard sized paper clip next to the bookmark so you can get an idea of the size. I found these paper clips in the office supply section at Wal-Mart, 15 for a dollar! I wasn't sure what I was going to do with them when I bought them, but they were just too darn cute to pass up.

Thanks for coming today gals! I had a great time and I hope you did too!

Sympathy card for a friend

A good friend recently lost her Mother and I wanted to send her a little note to let her know that she was in my thoughts. For some reason I really hate sympathy cards that are all black and morbid. If you're sending someone a sympathy card, chances are they're already depressed and they really don't need a "black" card.

For this card I decided to go with Certainly Celery, Bashful Blue and Creamy Caramel. Not necessarily bright and cheerful, but definitely not morbid.

I used my French Script background stamp and clear embossed it to give it a little texture. For the main image, I used my Terrific Tulips and a sentiment from an old hostess set - sorry, the name escapes me at the moment.

I did a little decorative "poking" with my piercer, added some celery ribbon to the left side and a bit of Stickles on the flowers to finish it off.

On a happier note, my monthly class is tomorrow and I'm expecting 22 people. We'll be making four projects, having a craft garage sale and I'll be raffling off a brand spankin new Cricut machine! Should be lots of fun! I'll share the fourth project with you tomorrow night after I recover from my busy day of stampin'. If you missed my posts with the other projects, just click here, here and here.

Class Project #3

Here's project #3 of the ugly challenge! To read more about the challenge, click here.

This project was made using the image from the bottom right. Now is it just me or does that image resemble a postage stamp? When I thought of that, I was reminded of a card that I saw posted on Splitcoast by "BeckyTE". You can view her beautiful gallery by clicking here. I pretty much copied her card exactly, which was a first for me, but why mess with perfection right?

To make this card, I used Chocolate Chip for the base and Kraft and Purely Pomegranate for the coordinating cardstock. I sponged Creamy Caramel on the edges of all of the Kraft cardstock and ran the largest piece through my Sizzix machine with my Cuttlebug embossing folder. (The Cuttlebug embossing folders fit perfectly into Sizzix, just in case you didn't know)

For the faux postage, I stamped the image three times in a row onto Whisper White and sponged the edges again. I used post-it notes to make a mask and stamped the flower image from "Carte Postale" into the center of the faux postage using Pomegranate ink.

The envelope flap is popped up on dimensionals with the postage tucked underneath. I used the yummy new twill ribbon from the mini catalog to tie around the front of the card.

I've got 22 gals coming to my class this Sunday and I really think that they're going to like this one. Thanks for the wonderful inspiration Becky!